Expecto Patronum
by HeavenlyPanda
Summary: Ghosts from her past continue to chase Lily Evans as she begins her last year at Hogwarts, a school for witches and wizards. Having been awarded Head Girl in the midst of a thinly veiled political warfare against muggle borns, all eyes are set on Lily. Determined to prove everyone wrong, Lily blazes forward with the intentions of making her last year a perfect one. ON HOLD.
1. Prologue

The sun hung low in the late autumn afternoon as the stew that had been prepared for dinner was simmering on the stove. A wooden spoon stirred in lazy circles as it moved the contents of the stew on its own. Two shakers levitated above the boiling pot, occasionally adding a sprinkle of salt or a dash of pepper when needed. Pre-cut peppers and carrots lay on a cutting board to the right of the pot as a knife hesitantly hovered above a tomato on the board, unsure of how to cut it.

A man stood amid all the chaos of zooming cutlery and floating condiments, lazily flicking his wand occasionally when one of the kitchen utensils made a mistake. James Potter swept his hand through his untidy black hear as he cooked dinner. His glasses flashed in the kitchen light which illuminated his handsome face with brows furrowed in concentration. The uncut tomato caught his attention and he turned back towards the living room and hollered.

"How many tomatoes do I chop?"

"Just two dear," came the reply from the living room. "Remember to chop them into small cubes, Harry can't eat whole slices yet." James looked through the small kitchen door to see Lily hovering some small wooden blocks in front of Harry. He smiled amused as he watched Harry grab for the blocks with his small grubby hands.

Turning his attention back to dinner, he finished chopping the tomatoes and dumped them all into the stew. James glanced over the dinner table to see if anything was missing before taste testing the stew. Then he headed into the living room.

"Dinner will be ready in a few," he announced as both Lily and Harry looked up to greet him.

"Do I need to taste test this stew as well?" Lily teased.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean? Do you think I poisoned it?"

"After your last cooking escapade, I'm not too sure..." James feigned a hurt look and placed a hand over his heart dramatically.

"I'm wounded! Do you hear her Harry?" James said. "She thinks I can't cook." Harry stared at his dad's antics with confusion but let out a shriek of delight as James tickled him. Lily just smiled as she rolled her eyes.

"You're such a drama queen."

"But you still love me." Lily shook her head with a smile on her face at that reply.

"That depends on whether you've burnt the stew or not."

"As the saying goes, the way to a woman's heart is through her stomach."

"James!" Lily exclaimed as she lightly smacked his shoulder. "I'm pretty sure it's actually a 'man's heart'." James raised both his hands in mock surrender as he laughed.

"Just trying to be gender-neutral."

"Well I'm glad you're adapting James," Lily chided. "I remember a time when you said you'd never cook."

"There was a time when you said you'd never date me, but look where we are now."

"Well, I recall a time when I called you an arrogant toe-rag. Times have certainly changed." There was a pause in the conversation at that. Both of them lost in memories of a time that seemed long ago. Harry let out a shriek as if to remind them both that he was there.

"I think Harry here wants to know about the time you got detention with Dumbledore exclusively," Lily said as she scooped up Harry and headed for the kitchen. James followed in tow.

"Really, cause I think Harry would be highly interested in the time you transfigured you teacup into a slug instead of a mouse."

"I seem to recall you being the one who transfigured my teacup."

"I don't seem to recall that." James feigned an innocent look as Lily settled Harry into his toddler chair. She then straightened in front of James and reached and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before heading over to the stew.

"You never seemed to have a good memory for certain things," Lily said. "Must've been all those bludgers that hit that dense head of yours."

"Hey! To be fair, I do remember the time that you introduced yourself as Lily Potter. We weren't even married yet!"

"Of course you would remember that." The stew was served and the small family settled into another dinner of reminiscence and memories.


	2. L: My Name is Lily Potter

****Summer after year 5****

_The boy sat under the tree holding a book to preoccupy him as he waited. Every so often his eyes scanned the surrounding park before looking back at the pages of the book in disappointment. The weather was fair with barely any clouds in the sky. A breeze ruffled the leaves of the tree as birds flew past yet the boy hardly seemed to notice how picturesque the surroundings were._

_"Sev?" A girl called out as she approached the lone tree. Severus hastily stood up as he snapped his book shut. His eyes lit up as he saw Lily approach him and he gave her a half-smile._

_"Lily! I-I didn't think you would come," he exclaimed. Lily frowned at him and his face turned red as he stuttered a sorry. "I'd like to talk."_

_"About what Sev?" She asked. Her usually warm and friendly voice had been replaced by cold indifference. She waited for his response as Severus sighed. He knew that this would be difficult but he was willing to do it. To tell her that he was ready to abandon all his Slytherin friends just to be able to call her his friend once more. To tell her he was sorry for calling her a mudblood and promising to never treat her like that again._

_"I miss you," he said softly and Lily's expression softened. "And I'm sorry for calling you that name. Please, can we go back to being friends? You're the only true friend I've got." Lily felt her resolve to resist anything Severus said dissolve. She had missed him too. Summer had been a lonely event without him. Was it really worth it to hold this grudge and drop their friendship? She felt conflicted about the situation._

_"Sev... How do I know you won't call me mudblood again?" Severus flinched as she said the word. He hung his head. He had known that Lily would ask him._

_"I was mad Lily, please why can't you understand?" He pleaded. A sudden gust of wind came up whipping Lily's hair around. She huffed and tucked the loose strands that waved in her face behind her ear. She gave Severus a hard look._

_"That's your excuse? Sev I can't just forgive you every time you let something slip just because you're mad." Lily sighed feeling exasperated. Severus' hands clenched and he looked away from her. Why didn't she understand? Why was it that after one mistake, she was so easily ready to let go of their friendship as if it were nothing? Was it because she wanted to be rid of him? With that thought, a gnawing doubt began to creep through his mind. Why would she want to be friends with him? He was unlikeable while people like Potter and his friends were popular. Of course, she wouldn't want to stick around him anymore. Severus almost let out a bitter laugh at this revelation. Potter, Severus thought sourly. It would always come back to that git._

_"Oh, so you can't forgive me when I get mad yet you can forgive Potter?" Severus spat the word Potter out so venomously as if he were uttering a curse. Lily took a step back and frowned. _

_"What does Potter have to do with this?" Lily snapped back. She felt suddenly on the defensive side of this conversation. As if she were the one who had to apologize. _

_"So you can excuse Potter's behavior but you can't excuse mine?" Severus continued. "Cause I certainly don't see you having any issue with talking to Potter." _

_"For one thing Sev, Potter and I are not friends. And secondly, I stood up for you and you paid me back by calling me a mudblood." Lily seethed angrily. "If this is what you call an apology, I think I'll be going."_

_"Fine then! Go off and run with Potter and his little friends. But when you discover their little secret I'll be the one saying I told you so," Severus shouted at Lily's retreating back. "Potter's not as great as you think he is." Lily suddenly turned around seething in rage. _

_"He is one hundred times better than your so-called friends Severus. I have put up with your friends snickering about me behind my back. I've put up with you pretending I'm not there when you're with your friends. I'm sick of you excusing your friends' cruel tricks on others. I'm done with this Severus." Lily stared at Severus for a moment before turning around. Severus muttered something causing Lily to pause._

_"What did you say?" _

_"I said, as if I haven't had to put up with your friends," Severus said in an accusing manner. Lily's face suddenly flushed as if she had been caught red-handed. A bitter laugh issued from Severus as if knowing he had won the argument before it even began._

_"Yes Lily, I've known about the snide remarks I get from your friends. How they always ask why you even hang out with me. I know exactly what they think of me. Did you stand up for me then?" Severus asked as he pinned Lily in her place with his gaze. He watched her, with avid interest to see if she would say anything. When she didn't he continued._

_"I know James is infatuated with you, yet did you once tell him to stop attacking me before? I know if you asked sincerely, he would have," Severus spat angrily. Lily stared at him bewildered and ashamed. She had told James to stop on many accounts but had they really been with a sincere intention? Did not last year with the OWLs count for anything? Yet again, the OWLs incident might not have happened if she had actually just told James to stop? Had she really just been neglecting tellings James to stop because deep down she actually found some of his pranks on the amusing side?_

_"So are my friends really that much worse than yours?" Severus asked finally calming down a bit._

_Lily opened her mouth before closing it. She had nothing to say for that. Finally, she said something._

_"At least my friends don't hurt others for the fun of being cruel." Lily at last responded. Severus' eyes seemed to darken at that. As if it weren't the response he had been looking for and Lily felt the last shreds of their friendship slip away as they were replaced by walls of cold bitterness. The day suddenly seemed cold and the breeze that had once felt good now only felt annoying. Lily lowered her gaze away from Severus, unable to look at her former friend's face._

_"You think that I wasn't hurt by what James did to me after OWLs?" Severus spat in a low whisper that had so much bitterness. "Do you ever wonder Lily, why you have never gotten attacked by one of my 'friends'?" Lily's head shot up at this as she had over the years pondered this. But it had never occurred to her that Sev... Her Sev had been protecting her? Her eyes met Severus' as he stared at her with an intensity of seriousness that she had never seen before._

_"It's because I cared enough to make sure you were safe. Yet you obviously didn't care enough to return the favor." The bitterness in Severus' voice was all too apparent. Again a sense of shame crept over Lily as Severus said this. She had always wondered why none of the Slytherins who paraded blood purity propaganda all the time ever attacked her. And now she knew._

_"All this time..." Lily trailed off. "You've been... protecting me?"_

_"Always," Severus said finally. With that, Severus turned around and walked away from the tree._

_"Sev! Wait I..." But there was nothing to say._

* * *

Lily stared at her Head Girl badge proudly. She had polished it the night before. The black letters that spelled Head Girl stood out bold enough for anyone to see. She had been proud of the fact that Dumbledore had chosen her to be the Head Girl for this year. Her parents had been especially proud too but Petunia had just scoffed and run upstairs to avoid her. This had been the second year in a row that Petunia had not come to see Lily off to Hogwarts.

Lily at first had been hurt by that but there was nothing she could do. Her fight with Petunia had started in her first year at Hogwarts and Lily had decided by her sixth year that she would no longer care. If Petunia wanted to be petty about things, let her be petty. Lily was done with it.

As the rain pattered against the car window, Lily felt an excited flutter in her chest at the thought of returning to Hogwarts. But this would be the last year and a sudden nostalgic feeling came over Lily as she remembered her amazement when she had first realized she was a witch. So much had changed in her life since then. She had made friends that would last her a lifetime and she had learned about a whole new world that was fascinating and magical. Of course, some people had not changed. For example, James Potter. As if by instinct her she frowned.

"What's wrong Lily?" Her father asked as he caught her eyes in the rear-view mirror. She felt herself flush a bit, not wanting to tell her father anymore about the infuriating James Potter which he had heard about all throughout her years at Hogwarts. She had stopped when he had jokingly asked her, yet in all seriousness, if she liked James Potter after an hour-long rant.

"Nothing papa," Lily responded shaking her head. James would have to watch himself this year because she now had the power to put him in detention if she pleased. With that thought in mind, her day brightened considerably.

After saying her goodbyes, Lily pulled her trunk aboard the train. She had intended to go find her friends when she remembered that she would have to check in with the Prefects. After a moment of indecision, she headed towards the Prefect carriage, curious as to who the new Prefects and Head Boy would be. As she passed a couple of carriages, a few which held other students of her year, many congratulated her with warm smiles which she returned happily. Others, however, gave her sour looks and folded arms. At last, she reached the Prefects carriage and opened the sliding door.

To her left, three Prefects sat chatting with each other earnestly. They waved at her when she walked by. The others were scattered about the carriage. Lily felt herself smile with a mounting sense of pride. The realization that she had made it to Head Girl hit her again making her smile with a goofy grin that could only come with the pure joy of having accomplished something amazing.

The door suddenly opened again and in walked James Potter who stopped for a second, taking in Lily's goofy grin before returning a smile. It took all of about two seconds for the grin to vanish and be replaced by shock. _Why was James here? Was he lost?_ That's when Lily's eyes traveled down from James' face to his chest where a shiny Head Boys badge hung. Lily blinked for a second wondering if she had imagined the Head Boys badge on James' chest. _No, that couldn't be. Who in their right mind would ever make James Potter a..._ But there it was, gleaming on his chest as bright and polished as her own.

"Lily?" James said in a worried voice. Lily started suddenly realizing that James had been talking to her. She looked around the compartment to see that the other Prefects were now looking at her with raised eyebrows. Evidently curious as to why their Head Girl was gaping at their Head Boy like a lunatic. Lily felt herself flush and she shook her head.

"Pardon my asking. But did Dumbledore actually make you the Head Boy?" Lily asked incredulously. She realized how rude that sounded and gasped feeling embarrassed that all the Prefects had heard it too.

"I'm so sorry, that was incredibly rude. Bloody hell what has gotten into me?" Lily suddenly clapped her hand over her mouth as she realized she had just sworn in front of James and all the Prefects. She felt herself blush horribly as James stared at her with an amused expression. _This is your fault_, Lily thought as she gave James a withering glare. He just laughed at her expression before turning towards all the Prefects who had been watching their interaction with avid interest.

"Alright guys, now that we're all here I think it's time that the Head Girl and I introduce ourselves," James announced. "I'm James Potter and this is..." James looked pointedly at Lily who stared at James in utter surprise. _He was acting responsibly!_ Lily felt shocked by this. He had actually just started a meeting without saying anything ridiculous or inappropriate to get a rise out of the Prefects. James suddenly cleared his throat before repeating, "... and this is... " he qued once again. Lily straightened at that before clearing her throat too.

"Oh, right. Well... " Lily blanked on what she was supposed to say. It was just one of those days apparently where she could not in the slightest bit pay attention or remember what had been asked of her. James was now looking at her with concern while the other Prefects had started to snicker a bit.

"Your name... " James whispered. _Right! My name! My name is Lily_. Lily gave the Prefects a friendly smile before mentally smacking herself.

"My name is Lily Potter," Lily said feeling herself go red at her previous mistake when she had mentally introduced herself. The compartment went silent for a moment as James stared at her, eyes wide in surprise. A Hufflepuff Prefect broke the silence.

"You two are related?" he asked politely. It was James who turned red as Lily stared at him in mortified silence. _What. Had. She. Just. Uttered? Lily Potter? It has a nice ring..._ She shook her head before letting out a strained laugh.

"No sorry, what I meant to say was my name is Lily Evans," Lily said trying to give the Prefects a small reassuring grin that she was perfectly sane.

* * *

"Well that was a total fail," James mumbled as he exited the compartment, twirling his wand in his right hand. Lily huffed and pushed past him, on her way to find her friends and leave James presence before she did anything else embarrassing. "Right Lily Potter?" James called after her teasingly as he brandished his wand in a playful gesture. Lily grumbled, rolling her eyes. It wasn't her fault that James had flustered and surprised her. To be perfectly honest, this was Dumbledore's fault.

"It's not my fault Dumbledore made you a Head Boy," Lily said accusingly as if James had somehow duped Dumbledore into doing it. James rose an eyebrow but took the bait.

"It's not my fault you acted like a total nutcase."

"Well, it's not my fault that you surprised me."

"Well, it's not my fault that you introduced yourself as Lily Potter."

"Well, it's not my fault that you acted responsibly for once in your life!"

"Why did you introduce yourself as Lily Potter?"

"Well it's not my f- what?" Lily broke off on her train of thought to stare at James. James responded with his classic grin that always infuriated Lily. It was the grin of victory that James always flashed Lily when he had gotten away with something he shouldn't have. He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall in the corridor staring at Lily with an amused expression.

"Why did you call yourself Lily Potter?" James repeated. "Certainly has a nice ring to it eh?" Lily's face flushed as she remembered prior to this conversation, thinking of the same thing he had just said. Not that she would ever tell James that. His ego didn't need any more inflation.

"It was nothing," Lily uttered crossly, feeling more and more flustered. "I'm off to find my friends. Don't do anything while I'm gone and put your wand away! It's not like you're going to be hexing anyone today." With that, she turned around abruptly and marched down the corridor.


	3. J: The Marauders

**Hi all, this is actually my latest post. I will be working on James POV stuff too. Just have a look out for any new chapters between the chapters that I've already posted.**

James couldn't help the grin that crossed his face as he watched Lily march down the corridor away from him. He replayed back the small banter they had just had in his mind. With a smirk, he recalled the blush that had crossed Lily's face when he had made the remark about her taking his last name. It did have a nice ring to it.

There was nothing more satisfying than infuriating Lily. James loved the way her brows furrowed in disapproval and how she crossed her arms when she was focussed on winning whatever argument they were in. He noticed the way she scrunched her nose slightly whenever he said something a little too ridiculous to take seriously and how her green eyes pinned him in his place whenever they were focussed solely on him.

Most of all, James counted it as a victory whenever Lily became flustered or speechless. This didn't happen too often though because Lily was quick as a chaser and her attention to detail rivalled that of Professor McGonagall. But sometimes, like today, James managed to catch her with her guard down and in moments like those, he got to see a small glimpse of Lily Evans without all her walls up.

James knew that his bewitchment of her Head Girl badge would be a small victory he wouldn't get to witness but he'd take his wins where he could get them. It hadn't taken much to distract Lily today. With the disaster of a first meeting and the obvious shock that he was Head Boy, James had been able to change the letters on Lily's badge to read _Lily Potter_.

As James made his way down the compartments, his thoughts travelled back to the meeting. The eager Hufflepuff boy had formally introduced himself to James and Lily right after they had adjourned the meeting. Shaking both their hands like a ministry official, he had introduced himself as Flynn Thomas. He had been sitting with a Ravenclaw boy who seemed more withdrawn and shy.

All in all, none of the Prefects seemed to be too insufferable or unbearable. They all seemed like a pretty average group of overachievers, but none of them stuck out like a sore thumb. James had been extensively warned by Remus on the different types of Prefects back in fifth year. He was ready for the worst but hoping for the best.

As James travelled through the carriages, nostalgia bubbled up from within. This would be the last time he took the Hogwarts Express to Hogwarts for the beginning of the school year. Through the window, he could see the mist rolling by and an occasional tree. It was foggy outside and students were milling about, up and down the corridor of the Express. The sound of chattering and laughter filled the train as James finally reached the last compartments.

A loud bang from one of the compartments made James almost jump. His heart was racing in a second from the loud noise but it was already slowing. Amused and curious, he headed to the compartment where he knew his friends were. Before he could even reach the door, it was yanked open as he heard panicked cries from inside.

The smoldering remains of what appeared to be a firecracker was tossed out into the corridor. The firecracker was still spitting sparks and glowing slightly when it ignited. James flattened himself to the side of the corridor as the firecracker shot past him, missing his face by an inch. He watched as it zipped down the corridor before finally exploding in a vast array of colours outside some fourth-year compartment. Screams of surprise echoed down the corridor as James turned back to his friend's compartment.

"Really Peter?" Came Sirius's voice. "Why on earth would you light it in our compartment?"

"I didn't mean to, it just sort of… happened?"

"Does Sirius care to explain why he has some none douse-able firecrackers that are very much banned in Hogwarts?" Asked an inquisitive voice.

"I think I'd like to know why you guys almost took my head off with an explosive just a few seconds ago," James said as he entered the compartment. All three of them looked up at James before their eyes noticed the Head Boy badge on his chest.

"Well would you look at that," Sirius said with a grin. "Our old man has grown up and gotten himself the role of Head Boy. Guess that means you're too mature now to join in on our pranks and escapades." James rolled his eyes at that before hugging Sirius.

"Don't need to look so surprised Sirius, you already knew," James laughed as he turned to greet Remus and Peter. "Though the look on your face, Peter, was much akin to how Lily looked when she saw me." Remus quirked a brow at that as he looked back at James' Head Boy badge as if he still couldn't believe his eyes.

"How did Lily take it?" He finally asked with curiosity. James sat back on his bench as he thought back to their meeting and how Lily had ogled at his badge like it were some ancient relic. His thoughts then turned back to their introduction to the Prefects and a smile tugged at his lips.

"Come on James, cough it up," Sirius said as he waited somewhat impatiently. "I already know it's a good story." And so James launched into a wild retelling of the events that had unfolded earlier in the day.

* * *

"I don't believe you," Sirius deadpanned. "Is this another one of your wild fictional stories about how you interacted with Lily successfully?" James whipped a Bertie Botts Every Flavoured Bean at Sirius who caught it with expert reflexes. He popped it into his mouth, much to James chagrin until Sirius' face contorted with disgust.

"What flavour?" Peter asked with mild amusement.

"Some type of sprout?" Sirius coughed.

"Serves you right," James snickered. "And you can go ask Lily yourself if you don't believe me."

"Oh, like she'd admit to that," scoffed Sirius. "Remus what do you think. Is Prongs a liar or is he telling the truth?" Remus seemed to pause for a bit as if he were making up a chart in his head to evaluate whether James' story was true or not. His dark hazel eyes squinted at James, scrutinizing and examining his integrity before coming to a decision.

"I really don't know." Sirius deflated at that as he examined James suspiciously.

"Seriously?" James said as he sat back, crossing his arms. "None of you believe me?"

"You can't really blame us," Peter reasoned. "After all, your track record of interacting with Lily in the past hasn't been all that great."

"What about last year?" James exclaimed, slightly offended. "Lily and I interacted quite well. In fact, there were times where we didn't even argue!" Remus let out a snort at that and James felt his cheeks beginning to heat up. Why were they even having this conversation in the first place?

"Congratulations James," Sirius commented. "You managed to interact with Lily without making a fool of yourself or pissing her off last year. Now we're supposed to believe that Lily has forsaken her maiden name in exchange for your last name?"

"I can hear the wedding bells," Remus chuckled.

"Ha ha ha. You're all so funny," James grumbled. "I'm not going to spend another ounce of my time trying to convince you all. Go ask Lily yourself if you don't believe me." James crossed his arms as he leaned against the cushioned seat of the compartment. He felt slightly miffed that none of his friends believe his story. Sure, it was pretty unbelievable, to be honest. But it did happen.

"Alright Prongs, to humour you, I'll go ask Lily herself," Sirius said as he stood up. "Wish me luck and pray that I may return in one piece. I'm going to face the horrifyingly serious and scary Ms. Evans all by myself. This is for you James." Sirius marched out of the compartment with determination and the door slammed shut after him. The three remaining marauders waited patiently and James mentally started counting down from five. Four… Three… Two…

The door was suddenly flung open and Sirius marched back in.

"Prongs is coming with me," He announced as James rolled his eyes. "Just for the company and I'm sure the lovely Ms. Potter, née Evans, will be delighted to see your face, James."

"Sure it's not cause you're scared of her?" Remus muttered. Sirius scoffed at that before shaking his head and hauling James up with him.

"Not at all, not at all Moony," Sirius said. "Simply bringing someone to share the brunt of her wrath." With that, he dragged James out of the compartment.

* * *

James followed after Sirius as they passed compartment after compartment. It was slightly quieter as students were starting to calm down after the initial phase of greeting friends but a few students were still lingering. Ahead was the sixth-year compartment and James watched as Sirius scanned each compartment as they passed by. He hesitated by one compartment, staring in it for just a bit longer than the others before walking past.

James caught a glimpse of a couple sixth-year boys as he glanced through the cloudy windows of the compartment. One, in particular, caught his attention and he knew why Sirius had been searching. Regulus was in the compartment they had just passed.

"You know, I've always wanted to go in and ask how he is," Sirius ventured nonchalantly. "I sent him owls you know, but he's never replied." There was pain laced in that sentence. It was so subtle, despite how much Sirius wanted to act neutral about the situation, James could tell. Although he and Sirius were like brothers, he knew that there was nothing he could do to replace the hole in Sirius' life where his actual brother used to fit.

"We haven't even talked since I left," Sirius continued. "And even back when I was still there, we hardly talked…" There was silence.

"You know that Regulus is always welcome at my place," James offered. "You're my brother Sirius, and that means any brother of yours is a brother of mine too." He smiled at Sirius who looked back at him gratefully.

"Well, maybe he hasn't talked to me because I'm in Gryffindor and he's in Slytherin," Sirius joked. "I think he's taking the Gryffindor and Slytherin rivalry a little too _Sirius_." James rolled his eyes at that as he cuffed Sirius over his head.

"Terrible joke mate," James laughed as they continued their way to Lily's compartment.


	4. L: Hypocrite

Lily walked down the corridor, casually glancing into compartments to watch for any trouble makers. Now was a good time to establish that she would not be a pushover and allow mischief to fester under her watch. It also took her mind off the fact that she had acted like an utter fool in front of all the Prefects. She shook her mind as she thought about what had happened earlier in the Prefects carriage.

She had been so surprised at the fact that James had become Head Boy that most of the Prefects probably thought she was an incompetent fool now. They probably thought James was the more responsible one! _Humph, well I'll show them!_ Lily thought, or more likely James would show them. Lily highly doubted his mischievous nature would be able to contain itself for long. Sooner or later it would rear its head.

As Lily continued down the corridor students pointed and snickered at her. Irritation began to rise in her as the events of the day flashed through her mind. Why couldn't anything go right? First, the Head Boy fiasco and now people were laughing at her for some reason?

Lily hurried towards her friend's compartment, excited to see them both. Neither of them would believe the news that James was Head Boy. Both Mary MacDonald and Alice Lightwood had endured six long years at school with James Potter. Both would be amused at the fact.

Finally arriving at her friend's compartment, Lily flung the door open and marched in. Both Alice and Mary looked up from a game of Wizards Chess they had set up on the seat.

"Lily! I haven't seen you in so long," Mary cried as she flung her arms around Lily, hugging her tightly. Alice gave Lily a grin and a wave, being more on the shy and reserved side.

"How have you been? I hope your summer wasn't too dreadful being around your sister. Did you manage to read the news lately? You certainly took some time getting here. Alice and I were wondering if you had become Head Girl!" Mary gushed on without leaving a chance for Lily to answer any of her questions. She stepped back from Lily and glanced at her Head Badge before frowning. The matching frown that Alice had indicated to Lily that there was something wrong with her badge.

"Lily, do you realize that your Head badge says 'Lily Potter'?" Alice asked confused. Lily felt a sudden realization as she now knew why all the students she had passed had snickered at her. She looked down at her badge feeling all the more foolish for having believed that James Potter had been responsible. Of course, that had all been a ploy to let her guard down. Lily couldn't believe how gullible she had acted.

Mary took another look at the badge before letting out an unearthly shriek like a banshee. Lily could've sworn that she saw a lightbulb turn on above Mary's head. Whenever Mary got grand ideas, she made them known immediately to all those in her vicinity. Lily's eardrums could attest to that.

"Lily! How was James close enough to bewitch your badge?" Mary asked in a serious voice that could hardly contain her excitement. "Were you two ki-" Mary started excitedly as Lily tried to cover her mouth. "-ssing-" Mary pushed Lily's hand away. "Gross! I don't want your sweaty hands near my mouth!"

"Then maybe don't have such horrible ideas," Lily responded. "And no, we weren't kissing. He was near me because he's Head Boy." There was silence in the cabin as Lily allowed the information to settle.

"So does that mean he and you are going to be-" Mary cut herself off. "Oh my god! You two are going to have so much quality time together!"

"Really Mary? That's all you can think of? No sympathy or worries for me?"

"I feel bad for you," Alice piped up.

"Thank you-"

"How are you ever going to resist his gorgeous windswept hair," Alice continued with a teasing grin.

"Alice!"

"Or those dreamy brown eyes of his," Mary added.

"Guys-"

"Or that adorable dimpled smile he gives."

"Or the-"

"Guys!" Lily exclaimed. "You two are ridiculous. Firstly, James is still the same James as he was from the beginning. Irresponsible, immature and annoying. Secondly, James and I are just friends. Tentative friends. Thirdly, have I ever expressed wanting to date James, let alone kiss him?" Before Mary could respond, the door to their compartment was opened by none other than Sirius Black with James trailing in tow.

"I thought this would be where we found Ms. Potter and her gang," Sirius mocked tauntingly. "And who were we talking about kissing?" Mary grinned at Sirius with a devilish look on her face.

"Oh nothing important," Mary said innocently before adding. "Just Lily's future prospects and suitors. You know, the usual." Mary gave Alice a hinting glance and Alice smiled at this, perfectly understanding what Mary wanted.

"You know, that Chase Hastings is a real looker. Am I right Lily?" Alice grinned as she looked at Lily expectantly. Lily glared at Alice, not in the mood to talk about boys in front of James and Sirius.

"Yeah, I heard that he's in the market for a girlfriend," Mary said suggestively. James let out a cough at this and Sirius looked over in amusement.

"Ok there?" He laughed. "I think Lily would look absolutely smashing on Chase's arm, right James?" James stiffened at this.

"No, I think she would look positively horrible on his arm," James muttered. Lily, having had enough of this conversation stood up.

"I think that's enough!" Lily said loudly. "I don't care whose arm you _think_ I would look smashing on. What are you doing here Sirius? And James?" James perked up at hearing his name. "Get out." Mary let out a small alarmed 'oh', at the harshness in Lily's words.

"Hey! James and I can be here if we want," Sirius said defensively. "Anyways, I think that Alice and Mary would love to hear how your meeting with the Prefect went." The suggestive tone in his voice gave Lily all the information she needed to know that James had told Sirius everything. Lily felt a burning sensation in the back of her throat as she glared at Sirius.

"Sirius if you speak a word I will put you in detention from now till Christmas," Lily warned.

"The school year hasn't even started so you have no power," Sirius said loftily.

"Then get out of our compartment," Lily said.

"Come now Lily, Mary and Alice probably haven't even heard the story."

"I'm sure they'd rather you remove yourself and James from our compartment now if you please." Lily glanced at Mary and Alice who looked torn between wanting to agree with Lily and wanting to hear the story. Hearing no resistance from Mary or Alice, Sirius launched into his wild version of how Lily had introduced herself to all the Prefects.

By the end, Lily wanted to cry. Although she put on a good face for her friends who thought the story hilarious, her mask was quickly crumbling. Her throat felt constricted and Lily was sure if she even opened her mouth to speak, everyone would know she was close to crying. She sat up abruptly causing everyone to look at her.

"Where are you heading to?" James asked in concern. Lily suddenly found her voice again to snap a reply at him.

"I'll be heading to a compartment where people don't know what's happened in the Prefects carriage. Oh wait, I won't find one because you and your big mouth probably spread the story to the whole school." The offended look on James' face set Lily off.

"Don't give me that look," Lily laughed bitterly. "It's not like it was Sirius' fault that everyone apparently knows what happened in the Prefect carriage." Lily crossed her arms looking at James accusingly. James, realizing what she was insinuating matched her stance with an equally withering frown.

"Oh really, it's my fault that the whole student population of Hogwarts knows you by Lily Potter now? I don't suppose you ever thought to look at the source of why everyone knows you as Lily Potter?" James countered. "You have only yourself to blame." Lily felt herself flush in anger at James smug complexion.

"Nobody else would have known if you and your big mouth could just shut up for once," Lily snapped. "If you had actually taken your job responsibly and acted mature enough, you wouldn't have spread stories about what happened."

"Maybe if you didn't have your nose pointed up in the air like a pretentious, stuck-up little pig, you would have realized that nobody else actually knows what happened in the Prefects carriage except for us. But of course, you with your morally righteous attitude deemed it correct to blindly accuse me of something I didn't do," James said. "How typical."

"Excuse me James, but I'm sorry if I'm in the slightest bit surprised by the fact that you claim to have acted maturely for once in your lifetime. I'm sorry that I assumed the worst of you and that I'm apparently wrong for once in my lifetime. I'm sorry that you've decided that now's a great time to act like your age for once in your lifetime," Lily responded sarcastically. "I'm sorry that I didn't know you were going to go against your nature of being a prankster and a jerk!"

There was silence in the compartment as everyone looked onwards at the scene that was unfolding. Mary had her hand covering her mouth as she gaped between the two of them. Sirius, on the other hand, was glaring with steely eyes at Lily who was heedless to everyone else in the compartment except for James.

"You know what Lily, you're right. I'm sorry that I tried to act like a decent human being to you. I'm sorry that being a decent human being is so revolting to you. So I'm not going to try anymore. I can see that the stick lodged up your arse isn't going anywhere anytime soon so I think I'll just back away from you while I can. I thought I knew you better but I can see now that you're just a stuck up, morally righteous prude who's so blind to your own faults that you can hardly see what a hypocrite you are. I can't imagine how anyone could stand being around you." James glared at her with a coldness to his eyes that Lily had never seen before. "And I might as well spread the story of what was said in the Prefects carriage because that's what you would expect of me."

With that, James marched out of the compartment slamming the door behind him. Sirius, noticing the murderous glares from Alice and Mary quickly followed suit.

Lily stood in the middle of the compartment, her ears still ringing with the insults that were hurled between her and James. As realization dawned on her about what was said, she shrank down to the floor hiding her face in her hands.

Mary and Alice were by her side in an instant as Lily silently wept into her hands. Alice rubbed her back and Mary hugged her but neither truly knew what to say to comfort her. Neither was sure whether Lily was weeping from the insults James spewed towards her or if she was weeping because of the loss of James as a friend.

The door suddenly opened again and the treat lady poked her head in.

"Treats, anyone?"


	5. L: Wisdom and Words

Lily sullenly stared at her Head Girl badge which still bore the bewitchment that James had cast on it. No matter what she tried or the number of times she had poked it with her wand, the words stubbornly refused to remove themselves. Now she was stuck with a polished piece of metal that reminded her of a git who was probably currently spreading rumours about herself to the rest of the school. Lily set her wand down and looked out the window at the hills they were passing by.

A younger version of herself would've been fascinated by the view from the Hogwarts Express. The train flew past small farms and villages that dotted the countryside of Scotland. On clear days, Lily could see chalets dotting the hills and in the far distance were mountains with snow-capped tops. Foggy days, like today, only allowed her to imagine what was passing behind the curtain of mist.

"Pass me the badge," Alice said, cutting through her thoughts. "It's the least I can do." Lily handed Alice the badge before resuming her brooding gaze out the window. After she had cried for a good ten minutes straight, she had settled down into a more stable state emotion-wise. With a pile of chocolate frogs beside her, thanks to Mary, Lily dwelled on the fact that James would now indeed have a lot more quality time with her.

Lily absentmindedly opened a chocolate frog box. She watched with muted interest as a chocolate frog hopped out onto her palm. It eyed Lily suspiciously but it's magical charm was already starting to wear off. It leaped from her palm onto the bench beside her as its back legs hardened into normal muggle-looking chocolate again. It gave one last feeble croak and became still.

Lily glanced down at the bottom of the cardboard container she still held. At the bottom was a card. A slight looking wizard with a nervous smile stared up at her from the flat surface of the card. The wizard could have been no older than his mid-twenties and his tousled hair, although dirty blonde, reminded Lily of James. The wizard in speak wore a grungy yellowish vest with a long dark blue coat over it and a bow tie to top it off. Lily's gaze almost skimmed past a small bowtruckle that peeked its head out of the front pocket of the wizard's coat.

At the bottom of the card in bold black font was the name Newt Scamander. Lily flipped the card over to read the description.

_Newt Scamander, a former Hufflepuff, was the author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Widely known for his expertise on magizoology, Newt brought to light much of what was previously unknown by the wizarding community about magical creatures. Newt Scamander was also instrumental in the legendary defeat of Grindelwald and his forces._

Lily placed the card back down in its box as her mind wandered to other things. The chocolate frog lay forgotten on the bench beside her as she thought back on the many history lessons she had had with Professor Binns. They had gone into thorough detail about the wizarding war that had happened and why it had happened. Many painstaking hours had gone into essays about that war. _I wonder if James has this card for his collection yet._ Lily felt her mood plummet once more as the thought passed through her mind. Why did her mind have to constantly remind herself of his existence?

"Here you go." Alice handed back the badge which now read the appropriate label of Head Girl. Lily gave her a weak smile and muttered her thanks. "You know, I'm sorry for pushing you like that. And I'm sure you already know that Mary's sorry too." Both looked at Mary who was sleeping in the corner of their compartment. The normally extroverted girl with the wild ideas looked rather peaceful when asleep. Her raven black hair reminded Lily of James midnight, windswept hair but Mary's complexion was a lot darker than James.

Lily caught herself suddenly thinking of James again and her thoughts turned sour. This time she made sure not to show her feelings through her facial expressions. She didn't want to be grilled by Alice about what she was feeling at the moment. Especially when it pertained to a certain someone.

"It's fine Alice, I know neither of you did it on purpose. Anyways..." It was mostly James and Sirius' fault, Lily had wanted to say but didn't. "I guess I was expecting this year to be better. Away from all the things that are circulating magical community. Away from my sister and her boyfriend. I..."

"Wanted the year to be perfect?" Alice prodded. Lily looked up, her gaze meeting the pair of hazel eyes that were staring intently at her. "Lily what did you think of when you were imagining this perfect year?" The question hit Lily and she opened her mouth to speak but no words came forth. What had she imagined when she thought of the perfect year? Throwing James in detention for the whole school year? Actually being able to stop Sev's- the Slytherin's group from playing their cruel tricks on others? Being top of her class? Was that what made a year perfect?

"I don't know," Lily said, not wanting to admit how shallow she had truly been thinking. Alice raised an eyebrow.

"Year's aren't perfect Lily. You may look back on a year and think it was perfect but that's only because you forgot about all the bad stuff that happened during it. So what makes a year perfect Lily?"

"Forgetting about all the bad stuff?" Lily answered sheepishly with a grin. Alice rolled her eyes playfully at that but continued.

"A year will be perfect if you even want to call it that when you can look back and agree with yourself that all the good things that happened outweighed the bad. Although this school year may have gotten to a rocky start, you can only evaluate that it's been perfect at the very end. So don't give up so soon."

"When did you become so wise?" Lily mused.

"Must've been all the divination classes we took. Would you like me to predict your future? All I need is a teacup and some tea leaf sludge."

* * *

_Many years and centuries ago, _

_There was an idea that four did know._

_To take responsibility, search high and low,_

_And up from the rubble, Hogwarts did grow._

_Now you are here, new and old,_

_Those already sorted and those to be told._

_Here are the houses and qualities they hold,_

_But you will be accepted into only one fold._

_Gryffindor the brave, courageous and strong,_

_Is this the house where you'll belong?_

_Some of you will think that I chose wrong,_

_But there's more to Gryffindor than what's in this song._

_Slytherin the ambitious, cunning and smart,_

_Is this the place where you choose to start?_

_When the time comes and you're deciding your part,_

_Slytherin's most of all, don't ignore your heart._

_Ravenclaw the wise, intelligent and wit,_

_Is that blue bannered table where you'd want to sit?_

_Although there are days when you feel like a twit,_

_Let me remind you now that you're there cause you fit._

_Hufflepuff the kind, loyal and fair,_

_Is yellow the colour you'll proudly wear?_

_Some might say that these qualities are spare._

_But finding those in people are really quite rare._

_So with no further ado, the sorting must begin,_

_But no matter what house that each of you are in,_

_Remember this dearly, keep it close in your mind,_

_That each of you is human, always choose to be kind._

_For a day will come when you all must choose,_

_There's much to gain and more to lose,_

_Although you may want to run and hide,_

_Do not ignore the voice that you hear inside._

The great hall erupted in applause as the Sorting Hat ended his song. It's wrinkled and frayed mouth shut as it slumped back down on the stool. The brown edges of the hat looked even more battered than Lily last remembered. Then the sorting began.

Each first-year took a turn sitting on the stool as the wide-brimmed Sorting Hat was placed on their heads. It twitched and moved causing the first year to squirm on the stool before calling out a house name.

"So... Was it just me or did the Sorting Hat's song seem in particularly long this year?" Alice questioned. Another house name was called and cheers erupted from the great hall.

"The Sorting Hat always sings for that long," Mary responded. "I'm just wondering what all that wishy-washy wisdom it was spouting at the end was for? Does it think we're all going through some existential crisis or something?" Alice let out an undignified snort at that.

The Sorting Ceremony ended with the last of the first years being sorted and then Dumbledore stood up. Lily felt the sudden urge to go write Dumbledore a letter about her complaints. Surely he couldn't be serious about making James Head Boy. There must've been some sort of accident. There Dumbledore stood, looking wise as ever with his half-moon spectacles and his long silver beard. If there was anyone who could see reason, it was him.

Then he spoke.

"I would like to welcome all the first years to Hogwarts. Welcome, and I hope you all have a year full of magic and education. Secondly, I would like to congratulate all the seventh years. You have made it to your final year. I hope you can all look back on your many years at Hogwarts with fond memories and happiness over the lasting friendships you've made. And I hope especially for this year," Dumbledore paused and glanced across the great hall. "That you all can set aside your differences to work together. Let the feast begin."

Gold plated goblets appeared from thin air as well as plates and cutlery. The serving dishes materialized into existence and from the empty dishes grew, quite literally, the food. Mash potatoes bubbled up from the bottom of pots and bread bloomed into full round buns on platters. Garnishes blossomed from great roast ham and a vine of grapes slowly slithered its way down the Gryffindor table. Gravy poured forth from a small dish fountain and the veggies slowly grew ripe before Lily's eyes.

The great hall was instantly crowded with the sound of chatter from all the students who were eager to eat and catch up with friends. The candles that floated precariously above, flickered as the energy in the hall rose. Fog encased the great hall's roof as its enchanted ceiling replicated the weather outside.

Lily felt a familiar sense of excitement as she relaxed at her table. She couldn't help the giddy feeling that enveloped her as she conversed and ate with fellow Gryffindors she hadn't seen in a long while. Hogwarts was where she was comfortable and a place she loved. She wouldn't let a certain someone ruin her last year.

Dumbledore had urged everyone to set aside their differences to work together. The Sorting Hat had also given a peculiar song. Food had cheered her up along with the friends she was now surrounded by. She would give James a week or two before writing her letter. _I'm generous, I can be patient. _

She glanced furtively down the table to see James switch his goblet with an unsuspecting first year. The poor little boy took one sip of James drink before hacking and coughing up the bitter drink, much to James delight. Lily clenched her fists. _Ok, maybe I'm not that patient. _

James and Sirius' raucous laughter echoed through the hall, grating on Lily's ears. Lily wanted to walk over to the two boys and tell them to kindly shut up but she thought better of it. Surely the horrible ruckus they're making attracted Dumbledore's attention. He can't be oblivious to everything they've done right?

Lily forced herself to avert her gaze back to her food but not before she caught Alice's stare. An amused smile grew on Alice's face and she wiggled her eyebrows at Lily. Lily felt herself choke on the ham she had just swallowed and she religiously started scarfing down the potatoes she had scooped, trying to ignore the blush that was spreading across her cheeks. Being merely observant and aware of certain trouble makers did not make her obsessed, right?

* * *

The desert was just as good as the dinner, if not better. Warm chocolate fondue replaced gravy and chocolate lava cake appeared where mashed potatoes had once been. Ice cream of all flavours materialized in replacement of ham and topping were provided throughout the table.

Lily was just about ready to burst from how much she had eaten when Dumbledore stood up again. The food on the tables disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared leaving Lily to chuckle at a grubby looking first year's look of horror as his generous third helping of ice cream drenched in chocolate syrup vanished. The great hall settled into silence once more as all attention went back to Dumbledore.

"That will finish our evening here. I hope you all had your fill and are satisfied. Prefects can lead the first years to their dormitories. Everyone else, please go to bed. Nighttime prowling of any sort will not be tolerated." Lily smiled, satisfied at that.

There was a flurry of activities as first years scurried after their Prefects. Other students casually said goodnight to those in other houses before heading off as well. Lily headed out with the throng of students, carried by the flow of their movements.

She felt a small tap on her shoulder and turned around to see a younger Hufflepuff student, maybe a third-year, with a scared expression.

"Miss, someone gave me this to give to you," the girl squeaked. She then brandished a slightly wrinkled parchment, folded in quarters. Shoving it into Lily's hand, the girl took off. Lily watched the small girl retreat with a bewildered expression. Was she really that intimidating?

Curious, Lily unfolded the paper and her eyes were instantly drawn to the letters on the page. It was handwritten in a messy scrawl that looked like a first-year had written it. Her heart clenched painfully and a shiver went down her spine as she read the message. In an instant, her eyes were up and scanning the body of students passing by in the hopes of seeing who had actually written the message. Hope soon turned to disappointment as the last of the students exited the great hall and she was left alone once more. She read the note once again and her lips turned downwards into a frown._  
_

_Mudbloods have no right to magic._


	6. L: Blood Traitors and Backstabbing

**Hi guys, I'm a bit late publishing this chapter. University is getting very heavy with the workload and stuff so I will be publishing little bits here and there whenever I can. These chapters are somewhat long so I may split them up and publish what has been written so far but then continue to update it throughout the week. Unfortunately I will most likely be unable to publish a chapter every week on Sunday so my updates will be a bit more sporadic. If you see a 'To be continued...' at the end of a chapter, the chapter is not done yet and will be updated. Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy.**

"Really Lily? I think that's a perfectly valid reason to go see Mrs. McGonagall," Mary urged as she took the note and read it once more. She let out a snort and shoved it back into Lily's hands once more as if disgusted that she had even held it. If there was anyone who seemed infuriated by the note, it was Mary.

Lily held a more calm disposition towards the note. Although she had been initially shocked, it had become less of a deal the more she thought about it. If the Slytherins wanted to parade their pure-blood mantra, so be it. They lived in a free country. As long as they stayed civil (unlikely) and didn't break any school rules (unlikely again), Lily wouldn't let their antics bother her. But if they stepped even a single toe out of line, Lily sure as hell would be there to see them all off to detention.

"I can't believe you!" Mary grumbled as she aligned her stride with Lily's once more. They were on their way to Potions. The first class of the morning and already Lily could feel the early October chill intruding on their September. Her breath came out in small puffs of clouds and frost covered the windows that they passed.

"You can't believe what?" Lily asked.

"I can't believe that you would be ok with this. With that!" Mary gestured to the note again.

"I'm not ok with the note Mary but what do you think is honestly going to happen? Nobody knows who wrote the note and what am I going to say when McGonagall asks? That it was the Slytherins?"

"Exactly." Lily scoffed at that and shoved the note into her bag.

"And we know that based on what evidence?"

"Oh come on Lily. How could you have gotten top of our class last year yet be so dense now? There's no way that it wasn't a Slytherin. Who else parades their disgusting pure blood propaganda? Who else so ardently advocates that muggle-borns are second rate? Who else gets a kick out of terrorizing and bullying others?"

"It could've been anyone," Lily responded neutrally.

"For goodness sakes Lily! Slytherins are basically death eaters in training. Unless it was some stupid pure-blood parading freak from another house that beat them to the punch, your best guess is them!" This earned them a couple odd glances and stares from passing students and Lily felt her face start to burn a bit.

"Hush Mary!" Lily gasped as they walked down to the dungeon. "You don't know it was them and neither do I. Just drop it for now."

* * *

Lily descended down the steps into the potions classroom. Although this part of the castle was technically the dungeons, it was nothing like what Lily would have imagined if she thought of a dungeon. Where slime ridden walls and rusted iron bars should've been, there were smooth stone carvings with mounted braziers. Where Lily once imagined chains hanging from the ceiling was a large hollowed out dome with a fragile-looking chandelier made of reflective glass. With tables for potion making and shelves filled with all sorts of ingredients and books, Lily thought the potions classroom looked rather picturesque.

"Goodmorning Ms. Evans and Ms. MacDonald," Horace Slughorn said as he greeted the two of them. "Please take a seat, class will begin shortly." Lily smiled and warmly greeted Professor Slughorn before walking over to Alice, who waved them over.

"What took you guys so long?" She asked.

"Lily here, out of the goodness of her heart, stopped to help out a couple of first-years find their class," Mary said. "It only took a good half hour for those dense little first-years to figure out where Lily was pointing them to."

"Mary it wasn't so bad," Lily tried to reason. "Anyways, we were first years once upon a time."

"Yeah, but I don't think we were that directionally challenged. That one Ravenclaw that you helped… My goodness, I think the sorting hat chose wrong for him." Lily tried to stifle a laugh at that which resulted in her erupting into a fit of giggles. A voice suddenly interrupted their chatter.

"What's so funny?" Lily abruptly shut her mouth as she tensed. Hearing James' voice so suddenly was like tasting coffee for the first time. A bitter sensation that left a bad taste in her mouth. Lily turned around to see that Remus and James had arrived and, much to her distaste, had chosen the table right behind them. Mary replied before Lily even had a chance to answer.

"It's nothing that concerns you, James," Mary responded hotly. With that she turned around, promptly ignoring the two Gryffindor boys behind her.

"Geez," Alice whispered. "The sass was a bit… much?"

"Yeah, well he insulted Lily yesterday."

"Well, that's true. If he insults one of us, he insults us all," Alice mused. Lily felt a sudden rush of gratitude and fierce protectiveness towards her friends. Although they had their ups and downs, they were loyal to each other no matter what. She cared for both of them dearly. There was nothing that could change that.

The rest of the class began to file in, in groups of two's and three's. It was a remarkably small class of the seventh year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws. The 'keeners' as Mary liked to call them. Lily's potion class consisted of the most brilliant minds of her year excluding those in Hufflepuff and Slytherin. After everyone was seated and ready, Professor Slughorn began.

"As you all know, seventh years shall be tested in more practical ways upon their knowledge of potions. Not only will you have to know the properties of ingredients, but you will also have to know what the results of mixing them together. You will have a midterm and final exams for this course along with quizzes and assignments," Professor Slughorn continued. "I will give you your midterm project and partners now so you can begin to think about it. The assignment is a potion of your choice which you and a partner will have to brew perfectly. Choose wisely. The more difficult the potion, the better marks you will get. But also with greater risk of failing."

With that, Professor Slughorn procured a small chalice in which a small greenish-blue flame flickered. Lily dreaded this part of Slughorn's class. Whenever he assigned potions work in partners, his favourite thing to do was using the chalice. The chalice, when given names on a piece of paper, would spit them back out in pairs. Although the chalice always seemed to pair those with equal talent together, the only drawback was that Lily was always paired with the same people.

The chalice had paired her multiple times with Remus Lupin when Lily had been younger. Severus Snape had also been a candidate multiple times when the Gryffindors had done potions with the Slytherins. James had become the chalice's new favourite come sixth year, much to Lily's dismay. She was pretty confident in knowing that much had not changed since sixth year.

Dread filled her stomach as Lily watched the small cup spit out its results to Professor Slughorn. Once all the names had been paired Professor Slughorn read them aloud. Those who were paired with friends laughed excitedly with each other while others smiled shyly at their new partner. The room was soon filled with a low chatter as the last of the names were called.

"Alice and Mary. Remus and Lily…" Lily felt relief flow through her body as she relaxed her tense shoulders. She felt a smile spread across her lips as she realized she would only have to deal with Remus. She had had her fair share of working with Remus back in her fifth year when they were both Prefects and she was pretty sure he was the most mature of all the Gryffindor boys. The chalice's blue flame sputtered and died as everyone's name was called.

"Well don't you look a little too happy," Mary snickered as she nudged Lily in the side. Lily rolled her eyes but couldn't stop her grin. After everything that had happened yesterday, Lily felt like she deserved a little reprieve. James Potter was already Head Boy and she would be seeing enough of him outside of classes. It only seemed fair that she could have a break from him in class.

"Well, it seems that we have an odd number of students. The chalice is very particular in sorting students into pairs. Unfortunately, it does not do well with groups of three," Professor Slughorn announced, cutting through Lily's train of thought. "James Potter is a very bright student and I'm sure any of you would be glad to have him join your group. Mr. Potter, please pick a group you would like to join and inform me by the end of the class."

* * *

Lily marched out of potions with her head fuming and ears buzzing. She was furious. James had already managed to diminish the honour of getting Head Girl by being awarded Head Boy himself. Now he was her potions partner along with Remus. _Why can't the universe just give me a break?_

Not to mention that she felt slighted by the fact that the chalice had left James name unpaired instead of her own. She had been the top witch of her class last year in almost every subject. It would have only made sense that she be the one unpaired. James wasn't that smart, was he? Well, Lily would be damned if she let him beat her in her last year at Hogwarts. James was a slacker who breezed through his courses. She would only have to wait till the workload got heavy and then she'd see if his bad habits would pull him through.

Lily slowed down as she walked along the corridor to her transfiguration class. She had left in such a hurry, only briefly waving off Mary and Alice who had astronomy second. Transfiguration would no doubt be her hardest class. The technicalities along with the stern Professor who taught it was a combination for challenge.

Rounding the corner, Lily noted a group of students gathering in a small crowd around someone. She frowned as she noted they were all from Slytherin it seemed though she could see a couple of blue-robed uniforms lingering around the fringe of the group. The group seemed entranced by something or someone in the middle of it but the students surrounding whatever it was made it impossible for Lily to see.

"Do any of you have hall passes?" Lily asked as she approached the group carefully. Heads lifted and turned to stare at her and Lily shifted under the gaze of so many. "Head to your classes now, you don't want to start your semester on the wrong foot with your professors."

"Wow, not even a day into the school year and you're already being a killjoy, Ms. Evans," a boy spoke as he stepped out from the group. Although he was the same height, if not taller than Lily, he still had a roundish face. But his dark black hair and mischievous eyes were all Lily needed to know that it was Regulus Black who stood in front of her. A couple people chuckled at the younger Black's comment and a smirk spread across his face as he looked at her.

"Not even a day into the school year Mr. Black and might just earn yourself detention," Lily countered. "Get to class Regulus. All of you go to class now."

"You're going to flex your power over us now Ms. Evans? Typical, she thinks she's better than all of us," Regulus sneered.

"Regulus, unless you want detention for the rest of the week, I'd suggest you and the rest of your friends get to class." Lily felt her irritation rise as she looked at the group. Others students had started to notice the fiasco and now her little standoff with Regulus had a fair amount of spectators.

"Get out of here Evans and stop bothering us. We have better things to do than be bossed around by someone like you." Lily felt her face colour as she watched Regulus and the rest of the Slytherin group go back to what they had just been doing moments ago.

"Regulus don't make me give your whole group detention-" Lily started. She cringed at how feeble the threat sounded but nothing was more humiliating than the fact that they continued to ignore her.

"Regulus Black, you have detention for the rest of the week and I'm taking five points from Slytherin for each of you who chose to ignore your Head Girl," an authoritative voice came from behind Lily. She didn't have to turn around to know who it was that was speaking but she did anyway. James stood with his arms crossed and a glare on his face. He looked formidable and serious and for a moment Lily was glad that he was here.

Grumbling ensued from the crowd as they started to disperse but Regulus stood his ground in front of James.

"Come on James, I didn't even hear what she said," Regulus gestured to Lily. "And we were going to class when she decided to rant on us." Lily felt her face burn as she looked at Regulus blatantly lying.

"I hardly believe that Regulus, you're just as bad of a liar as your brother Sirius." At the mention of Sirius, Regulus' face turned sour. Bitterness was etched clearly across his face and the glare he threw James was enough to make Lily's hand hover over her wand.

"I don't have a brother. Least, not one who's a blood traitor," he hissed and with that, he fled down the corridor to catch up with his friends.

* * *

They were alone in the corridor and Lily hardly wanted to look up and face James. She felt her face still burning with the humiliation of utterly failing. Failing to take control. Failing to discipline. Failing to keep order. And failing in front of James.

It was the last part that stung her the most. She should've been taking the reigns of the situation long before Regulus had talked back to her. Instead, she had let it spiral out of control. She should've put Regulus and his group of Slytherin's in their place rather than letting them walk all over her. What had she honestly been thinking when she had entered the situation? That Regulus would just acquiesce to her command? She should've known better, especially for one as troublesome as Regulus.

Lily knew she should thank James. It would be rude not to but after their last encounter, she hardly felt that a simple thank you would suffice. Nevertheless, she opened her mouth.

"James... thanks for helping me and I-"

"Save it, Evans." Lily stopped abruptly, blinking in shock.

"I was just going saying thanks James," Lily huffed. "No need to bite my head off."

"Oh, like you did yesterday to me?" James scoffed. "Get to class before I give you detention."

"Excuse me Potter but I seem to recall that we both have transfiguration so unless you also want detention, get yourself to class too," Lily sputtered.

"Well the way I see it, Evans, you were and still are currently loitering in a hallway in classroom hours. You neglected your Head Girl duties while letting a group of students fool about," said James. "So I'll reiterate, unless you want detention, get to class." Lily felt her face burn red with what James was insinuating. She picked up her book bag and started walking towards transfiguration once more.

"That's really mature of you Potter," Lily called over her shoulder. "Maybe I'll just let you run the Prefects meeting we're having today at lunch since you're so keen on taking over the duties of Head Boy and Head Girl."

"Maybe I will since I apparently also need to pick up the slack that you're dropping," James countered.

"I didn't ask for you to step in while I was dealing with Regulus."

"You didn't need to. The situation was spiraling out of control."

"Thanks captain obvious, I didn't know that," Lily responded with an eye roll. "Next time you pretend to be prince charming and charge in on your white horse, make sure the damsel in distress is actually in distress."

"What-"

"And also make sure that she actually wants to be rescued."


	7. L: James Potter Has An Idea

Low murmurs and footsteps were all that could be heard as students came and went from the library. Small groups of students huddled around tables, discussing their latest homework or assignments. Others seemed to prefer the solitude of the library as they read in their own little nooks. Nobody dared to raise their voices too often in fear of the formidable librarian Ms. Pince.

The architecture of the library reminded Lily of centuries-old cathedrals. When she had been younger, her parents had taken her on a vacation of all the old and prominent sightseeing locations of Paris. Palaces and government buildings scattered across the city all hosted a wide variety of interesting things to look at. But it was the libraries that had held her attention the most. It had been a wonderful trip even though Petunia had sulked the entire time.

Lily glanced up at the clock that hung on the wall over the library doors. James was almost ten minutes late. Shaking her head, Lily stood up which immediately drew the attention of all the Prefects to her.

"Alright, James will most likely be here soon but in the meantime, I think we can start by sharing any new ideas we had for events we wanted to throw during this school year," Lily said as she turned back to the Prefects. Ideas were tossed around for the next few minutes as Lily noted all the suggestions and jotted down the more interesting ones. It was a dreary process of negating the arguments that resulted from strong personalities clashing and kindly shutting down poor ideas. Eventually Lily had narrowed down the list to a realistic bunch of events that could actually be thrown.

Satisfied, Lily dropped her quill back on the table. It had only taken half an hour to flesh out a rough plan for the events throughout the year. Now they would only have to focus as each event as it came. James still hadn't arrived but Lily wouldn't bother about that. She could throw all the events for Hogwarts without the help of a Head Boy.

"All right, thanks for coming guys," Lily said as she packed up. "By next week I hope to have a classroom reserved for our meetings. Enjoy the rest of your lunch and we'll see each other around." The sound of footsteps pounding on the wooden floors reached Lily's ears and Ms. Pince's reprimanding voice filled the library. A few other students were roused from their books to watch as the owner of the ruckus rounded the corner of the bookshelves and smacked right into Lily.

Lily felt herself falling backward and her bag was knocked out of her hands that were braced for impact. She could hardly register the shock of having her center of gravity displaced so suddenly but as fast as it had happened, it suddenly was over. Lily felt her back being supported by a warm embrace and she realized she was clutching fervently to James robes. Her heart which had been sluggishly beating to the pace of the boring meeting was now going a mile a minute.

"James!" Lily gasped as she collected her bearings. "Would you mind watching where you're going next time?"

"Sorry Evans," James said. "I was just running a bit late. Thought you'd appreciate me hurrying to the meeting." Lily stepped back from James as he loosened his grip. She felt her cheeks begin to heat up and she knew that a lot of students were probably watching her and James.

"So glad of you to join us, James," Lily replied dryly. She pretended to glance at her wrist as if she were checking for the time. "You're only about… thirty minutes late. Care to share any of your ideas for events we could throw?" That earned a few snickers from the Prefects who were lingering about.

"Sure, I have loads of ideas," James said with confidence. Lily raised a brow at that but proceeded to sit.

"Did these ideas of yours just come to you in the last five minutes?" Lily asked as she brought out her quill and parchment.

"No," James responded incredulously.

"Oh I see, so they came to you in the last thirty seconds? Feel free to share." Lily held an amused smile as she watched James' face begin to blush. Nevertheless, he ignored her quip and proceeded.

"How about a Halloween party."

"Already suggested."

"Thanksgiving party."

"That too."

"Christmas party."

"James, could you be more creative?"

"Hanukkah party?"

"James, that's not what I meant when I said to be more creative. Not everyone is Jewish and where did you even get that from?" Lily asked slightly exasperated.

"Oh come on, I got that from reading a muggle paper once and at least I'm trying to diversify the school events," James grumbled. "It's not my fault that everyone else has already suggested all the ideas."

"Maybe that wouldn't have happened if you had been on time for the meeting instead of fooling about with your friends," Lily said as she folded up the list once more. She stood up and turned back to the Prefects who were still gathered. "Sorry for the delay, the meeting is actually over this time. Enjoy-"

"Wait!" James cut off Lily. "I have an idea!"

"How shocking," Lily commented mildly. This earned another round of chuckles from the Prefects much to Lily's amusement.

"A quidditch all-star game," James continued. "Think about it, everybody loves to watch quidditch." Lily pondered his suggestion, slightly intrigued. Most of the Prefects were nodding at this idea too and Lily had to admit, it was actually a pretty decent idea.

"Alright, I'll add it to the list," Lily noted as she wrote it down. "When would you want this game to happen?"

"First I'll have to notify most of the quidditch players who are eligible for this," James said. "I could use some help actually."

"I can help and so can Caine," said the same eager Hufflepuff boy that had questioned them on the train the other day. Flynn Thomas was his name she recalled. He had introduced himself to her and James after the meeting, shaking both their hands as if they had just exchanged a very formal business agreement. Caine Selwyn, on the other hand, was a much more reserved Prefect from Ravenclaw. Lily noted that he preferred to linger in the back and she also noted how Flynn seemed to be his spokesperson. "I play on our house team so I can let the Hufflepuff team know and Flynn knows the Slytherin captain well."

"Great," James concluded as he looked towards Lily. "Anything else you want to add?"

"I think that's all," Lily said. "Alright, this is the actual ending to our meeting. Hope none of you minded the five minutes extra. Next time James won't be late." She packed up her list quickly before heading out of the library. She noted James curtailing it down the hallway towards the courtyard and she frowned. What had he been up to? She had never gotten a straight answer as to why he had been late.

Curious, she followed after him wondering what was so urgent that he needed to run. She walked out under one of the hallways that opened up into the courtyard. Students were milling about the gardens and laying in the grass as Lily scanned the area for James. Spotting him heading across the greenery, she watched as he ran a hand through his messy hair. It was a nervous habit of his that Lily had noted way back in their third year.

He sat down next to a girl dressed in Hufflepuff colours who seemed to have been waiting for him and suddenly Lily felt awkward. Here she was spying on James like a creep while he was talking to some girl. She glanced back over at the two to see they were now both holding hands.

Not wanting to intrude or be spotted, Lily turned around but hesitated. Had James really been late to their Prefects meeting because he was 'preoccupied'? Wanting to chew him out for that, Lily turned around, determined to give him a piece of her mind about Head Boy duties when she noted that James and the girl were no longer holding hands. _Nevermind, they're not talking anymore._

A sickening feeling rose in Lily and she quickly walked back the same way she had come. She tried to convince herself that it was the food she had eaten for lunch that was making her feel odd but that only did so much. Her anger had quickly deflated and she felt conflicted. Although she had every right to be frustrated with James, all she could feel was deflated disappointment with a hint of sadness.

* * *

"So, how was your first day being Head Girl?" Mary asked.

"Wasn't my first day yesterday?"

"Well, I mean if you really want to count yesterday as the real thing…" Mary trailed off.

"No I'd really rather not," Lily responded quickly before pondering Mary's question. The day had started with her and James becoming Potions partners. Then there had been Regulus who had practically laughed in her face while ignoring her authority. Then James had swooped in and rescued her from a potentially embarrassing situation before promptly doing a one-eighty and threatening to give her a detention. The Prefects meeting had happened, which quite frankly was the most boring thing she had done all day. James had come to it late and afterward she had spotted him…

"It was good." Alice looked up from her bed where she was fiddling a dice and her wand.

"You know we've practically lived with you for the last seven years Lils," Mary said as she flopped back onto her bed. "We know when your lying. So what happened with James this time?" Lily gave Mary a withering look at the mention of James but Mary just smiled.

"Why do you guys think me having a bad day has anything to do with James?"

"Usually because bad day and James are synonymous to you," Alice replied without missing a beat. Lily let out a huff and buried her face into her pillows. There was nothing to be said about what she had witnessed. Why did she even care? James could snog whoever he wanted and it wasn't her problem. It's not like they were dating or anything.

"My Prefect meeting was boring," Lily offered.

"On a scale of Professor Binns boring to writing an essay about transfiguration boring, how boring would you say it was?" Mary asked inquisitively. Lily pretended to ponder the question before responding.

"I'd say it was about as boring as having detention with Mr. Filch." Alice let out a low whistle at that.

"They're really that bad?" Alice asked.

"They're fine really," Lily said quickly. "It's just the beginning though so, of course, they're not going to instantly get along with each other. There's a lot of strong personalities that clash."

"Oh, I love it when two keeners get into a verbal spar," Mary said excitedly. "It's like watching a catfight. Kinda like you and James."

"Excuse me?"

"But I'm sure if you two become a couple…" Mary mused. "The makeup sex will be so-"

"Langlock!" Lily uttered and Mary let out a strangled cry as her tongue was instantly glued to the roof of her mouth. Alice let out an amused chuckle at this much to Mary's outrage. Mary picked up her wand and waved it at Lily but only a few harmless sparkles shot out. Lily smiled apologetically.

"I dread the day you learn a few non-verbal spells," she laughed. Mary folded her arms and glared at Lily which only made her laugh harder. She proceeded to work on trying to undo Lily's charm which was already starting to wear off. Not wanting to be hexed by Mary, Lily hopped off her bed and headed for the common room. She descended the stairs from the girl's dormitories, listening to Mary's curses becoming more and more legible each second.

* * *

It was almost twelve and Lily had been reading ahead in potions. She had highlighted a few potions that she knew would get her group a good mark for the midterm project. The fire from the grate in the common room had almost completely burned out, leaving only coals that glowed softly in the darkness. The only other light that illuminated the darkroom was the moon which shone clear through the stain glass window in the common room. She was the last student still awake but she enjoyed the silence.

The picture of the Fat Lady swung open causing Lily to glance over. James walked through, his glasses reflecting the poor light from the fire. Lily felt irritation rise within her. It was already an hour after all the students were supposed to be in their common rooms. That meant James had been sneaking out. On the second night too.

She stood up and that's when James noticed her. She couldn't read his expression but by the obvious slouch in his shoulders, Lily could tell he wasn't happy. Probably because he knew she was going to chew him out.

"What were you doing out past curfew hours?" Lily asked.

"It's really none of your business," James snapped back.

"It is my business because I'm the Head Girl and I have duties to uphold," Lily responded coolly. "So I will reiterate, what were you doing out past curfew hours?"

"I was sneaking out, happy?" James said. "What are you doing up so late?"

"Studying."

"Typical."

"James you can't sneak out at night. This is ridiculous, you're Head Boy," Lily said.

"So go tattle-tale on me, Lily, I don't care." With that, he ran up towards the boy's dormitories and Lily sighed in frustration. She could go report him and probably get him in loads of trouble with McGonagall but something told her not to. She glanced out at the stained glass window which cast the moonlight into diffracted patterns along the floor of the Gryffindor common room. The moon was beautiful tonight and Lily could tell it was full.

A conversation she had with Severus many years prior piqued her memory and she felt her mind begin to work. Sev had just been lying about James and his group of friends right? Or had he been telling the truth all along… It couldn't be just a coincidence that James just so happened to be sneaking out on the night that the full moon was out as well. Even he would not be so bold as to sneak out on the very first night at Hogwarts.

But how could the boys stay safe around such a dangerous creature? Even if they were best friends during the day, Lily knew how dangerous werewolves could be in their wolf form. Every textbook she had ever read had noted that. With questions and theories buzzing around her head, Lily closed her potions textbook and yawned sleepily. As she made her way up to the girl's dormitories she thought she heard the Fat Lady's portrait open once more but decided to ignore it.

**If you guys didn't know what I was alluding to in the last part of this chapter, it was a conversation that Lily has with Severus in one of his memories. Sorry it took so long to update but midterms are happening.**


	8. L: Friends, Old and New

Lily closely monitored James and his group of friends the following day. Although there was no sign of Remus, the other three attended their classes as normal. Albeit, they seemed tired, none of them had any type of injury or wound that could have indicated that they had been frolicking with a werewolf last night. Confused and baffled, Lily felt her curiosity spiking. All of them had the tell-tale signs of having stayed up all night but there was no sign as to where they had gone for the whole night.

So like any normal person with no intent to be nosy, she continued to monitor James and his friends. Sure she was being creepy but it's not like she was making it obvious. Lily figured her creeping skills were in part due to Petunia. Petunia was probably the reason she was so good at being nosy.

As far as she could tell, James and his friends were just a normal group of guys goofing off every so often. As the warm September weather slowly dragged on into the chilly October fall season, Lily began to wonder whether her werewolf theory was even remotely correct. She had even stayed up late the night of the second full moon but nothing had happened.

"You should really stop staring at them Lils," Mary uttered under her breath. They were both sitting on the couch near the fire in the Gryffindor common room. It was getting close to night time and Lily had been reading up on Defense Against the Dark Arts. Or at least she had been trying to but her eyes always seemed to drift to the far right corner of the common room where James and his gang were hanging out. Peter and Remus were in a serious match of wizards chess while James was looked over their shoulders and pointing out moves. Sirius, on the other hand, was playing with a deck of cards for Exploding Snap.

"I'm not staring at them," Lily denied.

"You really are," Mary continued nonchalantly. "In fact, you've been staring at them for the past ten minutes and twenty-eight seconds."

"You've been keeping count?"

"Yup, you really aren't subtle Lily," Mary said. Lily felt herself blush at that and her eyes dropped back to her textbook. "Wouldn't blame you though, James sure is a piece of eye-candy am I right?" Lily elbowed Mary in the side causing her to yelp slightly.

"I'm not staring at James exclusively," Lily muttered. "Anyways, I caught him sneaking out a few weeks back and now I'm wondering where he goes."

"And you didn't tattle-tale?" Mary asked incredulously. Lily sighed and set down her book.

"He's still here so obviously not," Lily said. She was starting to wonder whether that had been a good idea to let James off the hook. Especially when it was for something that seemed so unrealistic that it couldn't be true. She had probably just puffed up his ego to an even larger extent.

"Who are you and what did you do to the Lily I know?" Mary asked as she gave Lily a serious stare. Lily rolled her eyes and turned back to her book. Just because she had let James off the hook once didn't mean she would do it again. In fact, she would even go so far as to say she would never do it again. What good had it done the first time except in making James think he had gotten away with breaking the school rules again.

"Well speak of the devil Lils, he's coming over right now," Mary mumbled under her breath as she subtly nodded in the boys' direction. James was indeed heading in their direction, more specifically Lily's direction. Lily felt her heart rate speed up as he approached. What on earth did he want to talk about? Did he want to confront her about her apparently unsubtle spying skills? At that thought, she felt her cheeks begin to flush. There was no excuse that she could think up on the spot that would make her not sound like an absolute creep.

"Your blushing," Mary noted with a smirk. Lily huffed and threw Mary a side glare.

"Thanks, captain obvious, didn't know that," she replied under her breath as James approached the two of them. Before she could greet James or get a single word out, Mary cut her off.

"Hello James, is there any reason why you deem it necessary to be in such close proximity to us?" Mary asked in a fake polite voice. Lily inwardly groaned at her friend's antics and held her textbook a bit higher to hide her face.

"I do have a reason actually and would it kill you to be polite for once?" James asked.

"That is her polite," Lily mumbled embarrassed.

"Well go ahead and spit it out," Mary continued unabashed.

"I need to speak to our Head Girl over here about some school events." Lily lowered her textbook hesitantly at the mention of school events. She had completely forgotten James' idea about a quidditch all-star game.

"Have you picked a date yet?" Lily asked as she looked up at James.

"I was thinking of doing it on Halloween," James continued. "Most of the student body will be free from schoolwork to watch and it'll give us enough time to make teams."

"James we already have the Halloween trick or treating event that day. You would know if you ever cared to help out in our Prefects meetings," Lily said. "Do you think you could push the date by a day?"

"Why can't we do them on the same day?"

"Because they'll happen on the same day," Lily said as if it were the most obvious thing ever. "People can't be in two places at the same time."

"We've already told all the quidditch players that it's happening on Halloween so unless you want to try and change their minds, it's happening then," James said. "Anyways, those who don't like quidditch can go to your event."

"Is this some kind of competition to you?" Lily asked slightly incredulous. James raised his eyebrows at that comment and an amused look crossed his face.

"You're the one who's been treating it like it is ever since the beginning."

"How have I treated being Head Girl like it's a competition?"

"You treat everything like a competition so don't take it personally," James said as he held up his hands in mock surrender. "Anyways, isn't it your goal to be a better Head Girl than I am as a Head Boy? Guess we'll see who's truly better at throwing events when the time comes around." With that, James walked back to his corner of the common room without giving another second glance at Lily.

Lily sat on the couch for a moment trying to process what had just happened. Even Mary was silent. Sure Lily was competitive when it came to academics but wasn't everybody?

"I'm not that competitive am I?" Lily wondered aloud. Mary opened her mouth but then quickly snapped it shut as if she were battling the words that wanted to come out. Lily sighed as she waited for Mary to lose the battle with her mind due to her lack of filter.

"Well… you kinda are. James has a point… sort of?" Mary said.

"Sort of?"

"You do take most things like a competition Lily," Mary said carefully before adding quickly. "But that doesn't give him the right to pull a nasty trick like that."

"What am I supposed to do now?" Lily sighed as she closed her book shut. "I can't believe he would do this. Why would he even do this? What on earth made him choose Halloween as a specific date?"

"Cheer up Lils, you've just got to throw a better event than he does and he's right, there are quite a few people who don't care for quidditch," Mary said. "Anyways, we could always find a spell or something that makes the weather terrible on Halloween." Lily let out a hollow laugh at that.

"That makes me feel so much better," Lily remarked dryly. "Also, how is being rude to James ever going to further your plan of James and I getting together?"

"Oh ho!" Mary cried excitedly. "So you are on board with my plan!"

"What? I never agreed to your supposed plan. I was simply wondering." Lily tried to assuage Mary's overactive imagination but it was too late. She could already see the cogs and gears spinning in Mary's brain.

"Well firstly," Mary said with a wicked gleam shining in her eyes. "You're going to have to get yourself on the market for a new boyfriend!"

"A what?" Lily asked slightly incredulously.

"Or a girlfriend," Mary added flippantly. "Either way, you need a significant other."

"How is that-"

"And then you need to snog this significant other of yours as much as possible in front of James," Mary continued matter of factly, heedless of the many eyes and ears that were beginning to notice the two's conversation.

"I am most certainly not-"

"As much PDA as possible to be honest Lils. And if you really want to shove it in his face, you should-"

"That's it, I'm going to bed!" Lily announced loudly.

"Wait! You haven't even heard why you have to do all this," Mary cried after her.

"I don't want to," Lily replied over her shoulder. "Be glad I don't have my wand with me or I'd have hexed you into tomorrow."

"You know you love me," Mary called after her as she ran up the stairs to the refuge of her dormitory.

* * *

It was the beginning of October and one of the chilliest falls Lily had ever had to endure in her stay at Hogwarts. As she made her way down to the Great Hall, she was greeted to the sound of low murmurs and chattering as students got ready for the day ahead. It was a warming sight to see so many students from different houses mingling and sitting with friends from other houses as they ate breakfast. She would surely miss this place once she graduated.

Lily headed over to Mary and Alice who were already sitting with a couple of other Gryffindor girls. They had The Daily Prophet on the table between them and were chatting animatedly to each other. She greeted Alice as she slid in next to her before taking a look at the front page of The Daily Prophet.

"Oh," was all Lily could say as she looked at the headlines. The front page was mostly taken up by a large black and white picture of a shop Lily had seen in Diagon Alley. In the picture, Lily could see the smoke and flames that billowed out from the broken windows as the inside of the shop continued to burn.

**Shop Erupts in Flames Leaving Two Dead: Muggle Born Shopkeeper to Blame**

_Early this morning Pinecrest Ink burst into flames and was quickly consumed by fire. The spread of the fire was mostly attributed to the copious amounts of stationery and parchment paper that were sold in Pinecrest Ink. Unfortunately, only the smoldering remains of shopkeeper Terrence Pinecrest and his wife Fiona Pinecrest were found when an initial search of the area was performed. The once beautiful shop which was Diagon Alley's main source for office and school supplies has now been reduced to a pile of rubbish and burnt wood._

_The source of this fire and all the blame can be pinned on a muggle-born of the name Edmund McFarlan. McFarlan was taken into custody immediately and will receive a hearing on October 16. McFarlan is the owner of a lesser-known, disreputable shop that sold low-end stationery supplies. More often than not, many wizards and witches in the past have reported being scammed by this shop owner with a penchant for selling lies and cheats. With a motive to wipe out competition and a tendency to bend laws, this unlawful shop owner will see his justice come his court hearing…_

"That's horrible…" Lily trailed off as she stared at the paper. She glanced at the picture once more before tearing her eyes away from it. She had been in Pinecrest Ink only a month ago buying supplies for school.

"If you read on, it says that the daughter of the Pinecrest's is coming back from a honeymoon trip to America. She plans on rebuilding the shop," Mary interjected. "What a terrible way to end a honeymoon."

"Don't you think it's odd though?" Alice asked.

"How so?" Asked a pale skinned girl with dirty blonde hair by the name of Marlene McKinnon. Lily knew her as one of the chasers for the Gryffindor house team. Marlene had the looks of a cheerleader but the perception of a seasoned quidditch player. Many had underestimated her but by the third year, everyone on the field knew to take her seriously.

"Well, it's as if everyone is already pinned him as guilty despite him not even having a trial yet," Alice pointed out.

"Well isn't it obvious," another girl Gryffindor girl across from Lily cut in. "He had a motive and something to be gained from doing it. Anyways, I heard that this Edmund fellow's shop was going out of business."

"But that's the point Dorcas, we're all assuming that he's guilty despite the fact that he hasn't been proven guilty yet," Alice responded. "Anyways, that's just the front line Lily. You should see the back of The Prophet. There's been more disappearances."

Alice said the word disappearances as if it were a curse. Something so taboo that it was frowned upon to be saying it aloud. As if saying it too loudly would attract the attention of whatever was causing these disappearances.

Lily turned to the back and glanced at the rather small list of names under the missing column. Missing was a rather mild way to put it. All who went missing were never found. Most families had to grieve without the consolation that they could at least bury a body.

Her eyes perused the list as she scanned it for any names she would recognize. Not that she knew a lot of wizards or witches. But nevertheless, a feeling of relief passed through her as she noted that none of the names were people she knew.

A shriek erupted from the Great Hall and instantly everyone was roused from the sleepy morning stupor. Lily glanced over her shoulder to see a student she recognized from Ravenclaw who was clutching at The Daily Prophet with shaking hands. Even from where she sat Lily could see the poor student staring at the list of names, mouthing the word 'no' over and over again.

The Daily Prophet fell from her hands as the student collapsed and instantly her friends surrounded her along with a couple upper years. The sound of sobbing grated on Lily's ears. She had never before heard such a wretched sound as that of someone truly grieving but it was enough to break her heart.

She turned around wanting to give the girl privacy. The Great Hall soon ensued with low murmurs as if they were in the library and students resumed their breakfast with hushed voices. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Professor Flitwick escort the girl out of the Great Hall with some of her friends.

There was silence amongst the group of Gryffindor girls as none of them knew what to say to diffuse the tension in the air. Lily glanced back down at the list and took note of the names again. She looked at each one knowing that someone somewhere out there was holding The Daily Prophet with trembling hands as they read the name of their loved one. It was a sickening feeling and suddenly breakfast seemed less appetizing than it did before.

"I'm heading to Potions," Alice uttered in a small voice as she quietly packed up her stuff. The rest of the girls also started to excuse themselves from the table so Lily followed after Alice with Mary in tow.

"Can you imagine that happening to you?" Mary exclaimed in a hushed voice. "I can only imagine how I would react. I think I'd faint."

"It's disgusting really, that children here are being affected by what's happening out there," Alice said suddenly. "And it's all for the selfish need of a sick dark wizard who prioritizes blood supremacy. By Merlin's beard, if we had a competent ministry who allowed it's Aurors to fight with the same arsenal that Death Eaters have…"

"You don't mean… using the unforgivable curses?" Lily asked tentatively. Alice blushed a little but she met Lily's stare with a confident gaze.

"Whatever's necessary to put these murderers and pureblood supremacists behind bars," Alice said with confidence. Lily felt a tremor go through her as she looked at Alice. She was planning to be an Auror. Lily knew that Alice would be the first one to jump at the chance to join in the fight against the Death Eaters once graduated.

Her strong sense of justice and prowess with magic made her the perfect candidate and Lily was sure Alice would pass all the requirements needed to be an Auror. But to see her friend descend into the same dark magic that the Death Eater's practiced… Lily couldn't even imagine Alice killing someone let alone using the killing curse.

"Whatever's necessary?" Came a sneering voice from behind them. "That rich coming from the girl who cried when her pet owl died." Lily turned around to see Regulus Black and his familiar group of friends. Most of them were seventh years like Lily. Death Eater's in training as Mary liked to call them.

"I highly doubt I'll have to do whatever's necessary to put you and your group of friends behind bars Regulus," Alice said through gritted teeth. "Your stupidity will do that for me."

"That's if you live long enough to see that," Regulus responded brashly. "Seems like the Death Eaters are doing a mighty fine job of cleaning up all the mudbloods and blood traitors out there." Alice whipped out her wand faster than Lily could even blink and had it pointed at Regulus. In an instant everyone was fumbling for their own wands, each wanting to get a hit in.

Lily had her hand on her wand but was too slow to draw it as she watched Regulus uttered something and a flash of white light erupted from his wand. Alice responded faster than Lily could keep track and a small protective charm developed from her wand, just barely deflecting Regulus' spell. Alice withdrew her protective shield as quickly as it had formed and hurled a hex back at Regulus who ducked, missing him by an inch. The Slytherin behind Regulus was no so lucky and let out a yowl of surprise as his head was suddenly shrunk to half its original size.

About half the Slytherins who had been passively watching with their wands drawn raised them in retaliation to one of their own being hurt but Lily already had her wand out and was ready this time. She no longer had to utter the words to produce the charm she wanted. A strong protective shield bloomed from the tip of her wand, flickering in and out of transparency as it expanded until a protective wall was formed between the two groups of students.

"Enough! Everyone put their wands away and ten points from each and every student who drew their wand," Lily said angrily. "That includes you." She stared pointedly at Alice and Mary who both had their wands drawn. Alice merely twirled her wand through her fingers as she stared satisfied at the work she had done on the Slytherin boy who was still howling in shock.

"Put you wands away immediately!" Lily ordered and much to her relief, most did. With the imminent threat of being hexed by multiple wands out of the way, Lily dropped her concentration from the shield charm and it faded away. "Regulus and Alice, I'm sorry but you're both getting detention." Alice merely smirked as Regulus turned around with a look of disbelief on his face.

"How is it that I get the exact same punishment when Alice was the one who drew her wand first?" He cried in outrage. "It's cause she's your friend isn't it?"

"No, it's cause you both threw hexes at each other," Lily replied in a cold tone.

"Maybe I should just finish what she started if were both getting the same punishment," Regulus snarled as his hand went back for his wand. There was a flash of red light and suddenly Regulus' wand went sailing out of his hand, clattering onto the floor a few meters away.

"That's enough Regulus," came a voice from behind the Slytherin group. The group quickly parted as a boy with long dark hair strode through, pocketing his wand. "Put your wand away before you embarrass yourself further with your inadequate knowledge of magic."

"I could hex Alice better than you, you would know if you were here more often," Regulus said, seemingly unphased by the fact that Severus had just disarmed him. Snape simply gave Regulus a hard look and the boy withdrew as he stepped back but his loathing eyes were now set on Severus. Lily's eyes were instantly drawn upwards to her old friend who seemed to be gazing at her with the same curiosity. His black eyes seemed to scrutinize the scene and he frowned.

"I would've thought our Head Girl would set a better example than to join in a childish school fight," Severus remarked. Lily felt flushed at that but she stood her ground.

"And what good would an unarmed Head Girl be if curses were to start flying?" She countered.

"No good at all," Severus answered. "Maybe you should teach your friends a thing or two about controlling one's temper and you wouldn't have to diffuse situations like these."

"I wouldn't have to do anything if you would stop encouraging your friends to follow all the pureblood propaganda that's circulating the media." Lily watched as Severus fell silent. She wasn't sure whether that was due to him having nothing to say or if he was holding back something.

"Regulus, tell your friends to get to class," Severus finally spoke. Then he turned back to Lily. "If you led by example Lily, maybe others would be more inclined to follow you."

"She's not like you Severus," Alice piped up. "She doesn't grasp for power through followers and whatever other nonsense you and your people do." Alice turned around and started heading to the dungeons, dragging Lily and Mary with her. Lily was pulled away as she watched Severus walking away. There had been no warmth in his eyes. Just a steely coldness, even as he looked at her. As if they had never been best friends. Merely two students who vaguely knew that the other existed.

"I'd watch your back Alice," Regulus' voice trailed after them. "Or maybe the Death Eaters will make an example of your loved ones like they did that Ravenclaw girl."

**Hi all, I was wondering if you guys would be interested in having different points of view? I initially was planning to write this all in Lily's POV but I could expand to other characters of interest. Let me know what you think. I think I'll be planning on adding a few chapters that will be in James POV but they will be published before this chapter (technically after if you thinking timewise but chronologically before this chapter) until I catch up James POV with Lily's.**


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